Solving time: Lost, but about 11 mins I think. One wrong (2dn).
A mini-theme in this crossword of detectives and their authors, with three pairs plus ‘Sherlock’ at 4dn.
I didn’t think this was one of Araucaria’s better puzzles, with most of the surface readings meaningless and quite a few other nit-picks with the clues. There’s a couple I don’t really get (14ac and 6dn),
Music (theme): Man of Mystery by Hank Marvin and The Shadows. I can’t find an online recording though, so here‘s a cover version by Muse.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ALL + [g]INGHAM – the author Marjory Allingham wrote about the detective Albert Campion (see 17ac). |
| 12 | [h]AIR + CREW |
| 13 | NEIL (hidden) |
| 14 | POST-MORTEM; POST + (TO ME MR)* – I don’t know why this is ‘like most of our creators’ work’. |
| 15 | LEG + WORK – a weak cryptic breakdown. |
| 17 | C[h]AMPION |
| 19 | UNLITERARY; (I TURN EARLY)* |
| 22 | LIEN; (NEIL)* |
| 23 | BIT + U MEN (= “YOU MEN”) |
| 24 | S(PAN + IS)H |
| 26 | RE-BUS |
| 27 | ITINERANT; TINE in (TRAIN)* |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CARDINAL + NUMBERS |
| 2 | FLUSHING – not ‘blushing’. I had a nagging feeling this was wrong and should have thought harder about it. Flushing is a port in Holland. |
| 3 | ENDA; (ADEN)* – an Irish saint. Together with 13/22ac, this and 25dn form two symmetrical pairs which are anagrams of each other. |
| 4 | SH(ER)LOCK – not keen on ‘Homes pronounced’ as the definition. This is more like a ‘double wordplay’ clue. |
| 5 | IMP + ACT |
| 6 | HEIRLOOM; (R[oyal] + OIL)* in (HOME)* – why does ‘royal’ = ‘R’? And how does the definition work? (Clue: “Home organised to keep royal oil available – that’s where it should stay”.) |
| 7 | P.O. + I + ROT – here ‘order’ = ‘postal order’ = PO. |
| 8 | THE WOMAN IN WHITE; (WITH NAME ONE WITH)* – decent anagram but the surface reading doesn’t seem to make sense. |
| 16 | OPT I MIST |
| 17 | C + HR + IS + TIE – Agatha Christie created Hercule Poirot at 7dn. The question mark is superfluous to the cryptic reading, which is unfortunate. |
| 18 | INIMICAL; rev. of MINI, + I + CAL |
| 20 | LET’S BE [having you] |
| 21 | RANK + IN – how does ‘graded’ = RANK? Ian Rankin created Inspector Rebus. |
14A – the “creators” are the detective story writers, whose work is about what happens after a death.
6D – I assumed it meant that heirlooms should stay at home (rather than being sold for a fortune at Sotheby’s, say), though that seems pretty weak.
14A – that makes sense. I thought there must be a bit more to the theme than I’d seen.
6D I reckon R for Royal is OK as it is used in abbreviations such as HRH His/her Royal Highness. For the definition I took the idea to be that heirlooms need to stay in the home else they cease to be heirlooms, almost by definition.